


But You Hate Elevators

by gingerfic



Category: Glee
Genre: Claustrophobia, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Mild Angst, Panic Attacks, Season/Series 06, Trapped In Elevator, because this is fiction, but it works in the story, do not attempt in real life, unorthodox first aid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 20:56:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3223166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerfic/pseuds/gingerfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This ficlet is set during early canon season 6 when Kurt and Blaine are broken up and coaching competing glee clubs. It is based on the following prompt from bloodiedbowties.</p><p>"Blaine is claustrophobic, and he doesn’t respond well to being confined in an elevator. Even if it is with Kurt, who’s trying his damnest to distract him.<br/>And then love and fluff. But angst first. All the angst."</p>
            </blockquote>





	But You Hate Elevators

**Author's Note:**

> It's really more T than M, but it's on the edge a little bit so I went with the higher rating.
> 
> Warning: rapidly written, no beta
> 
> Content/trigger warning: Claustrophobic Blaine has a panic attack in the elevator. I haven’t had these myself but I’ve watched them/supported others through them and I’ve tried to convey the intensity of it here. So if that triggers you, proceed with caution.

Blaine was looking down at his notes on his phone as he hurried down the hall. He only had a couple of minutes until he was supposed to be preparing his team to go on stage for their first competition, so he passed by the stairs and headed for the elevator. He was so wrapped up in preparing his pep talk that he walked straight into--

“Kurt, oh, hi.”

“Hi Blaine,” Kurt said, taking a step to the side. “You’re taking the elevator, really? You hate elevators.”

“I know, but I’m in a hurry. This is the first competition I’ve coached and--”

“You’re nervous!” Kurt teased as the bell dinged and the elevator doors slid open in front of them.

_You get kinda cute when you’re nervous._

“Oh shut up,” Blaine rolled his eyes.

_I think it’s adorable. I think you’re adorable._

They bumped shoulders as they both tried to step through the door at the same time, but then they stood carefully on opposite sides of the little box as the doors slid shut.

“Third floor?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah, that’s where the--”

“green room is,” they finished together. Kurt flashed a quick smile before turning away. Blaine pointedly looked at his phone again, even though the screen had gone dark now.

Kurt pressed the button, and the elevator gradually rose for exactly fourteen seconds before lurching to a halt.

Blaine huffed. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Kurt glanced over at him.

“This is my worst nightmare,” Blaine said in exasperation.

“Being in an elevator with your ex?” Kurt suggested, trying to lighten the mood as he started pressing buttons, just in case one of them would do something.

“No, being _trapped_ in an elevator,” Blaine shot back. “They make me really claustrophobic, that’s why I hate them. I mean I have actual, literal, while-I’m-sleeping nightmares about it happening. And now being trapped in one for real is… ugh” he shivered.

“Hey, Blaine, it’s going to be ok!” Kurt offered encouragingly. He looked over the panel for the emergency call button and pressed it firmly. “There, see, help will be here in no time.”

Blaine didn’t hear him. For him, it wasn’t ok. He had started muttering to himself, the words spewing out under his breath faster and faster. “ohmgod ohmygod ohmygod.”

“Blaine,” Kurt tried to get his attention as the shorter man leaned against the wall and started to slump.

“Blaine!”

The dark-haired man’s head snapped up. “Huh?”

“It’s ok Blaine.”

“We’re trapped! I’m trapped. God knows how long I’ll be stuck in here.” He was leaning heavily on the wall still, and his breathing was getting faster.

“It’s going to be ok Blaine, I’ve pressed the call button. Someone will be here soon,” Kurt explained again.

Blaine slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. He dropped his phone as he began rubbing his hands up and down on the thighs of his pants. “We’re trapped. I’m trapped. I’m stuck. It’s so hot in here. I’m getting too hot. I can’t do this. I’m not ok.” He grabbed at the knot of his bow tie and started trying to pull at it, but his fingers were fumbling and useless.

“Here,” Kurt knelt next to him, reached out, and carefully untied the bow. He unbuttoned Blaine’s collar for good measure. “Is that a little better?”

Blaine grabbed his arm. Ouch! That was probably going to bruise. “We’re trapped, Kurt, I can feel the walls closing in.”

“Blaine, this elevator is solid, sturdy, metal. It’s not going to collapse--”

“--or fall! It could fall! And even though it’s only a couple of storeys, that’s still enough to kill us. And it’s really hot in here,” he wiped his arm across his brow where beads of sweat had begun to form. “Aren’t you hot? It’s so hot…” he started rocking back and forth as he kept muttering about how hot everything was.

Kurt reached into his bag and pulled out a water bottle. “Um, I already drank out of this, but I think maybe that doesn’t matter right now,” he explained, taking off the lid and holding it out to Blaine.

Blaine took it and gulped greedily before handing it back. For a moment his features softened and he seemed to relax. Kurt was just re-capping the bottle and putting it back in the bag when Blaine tensed up again.

“Ugh, no, this is bad. This is really really bad. So very really bad.”

“Blaine! What? Do you want more water?” Kurt asked with raised brows, starting to pull out the bottle again.

“No!” Blaine almost shouted. “Now I’m gonna have to pee, and we’re stuck in an elevator with no way out and no bathroom and this is really really really bad. So bad. It’s so bad…” His hands were curled into the hair on either side of his face, and his head was almost between his knees as he rocked back and forth. “This is bad, ohmygod this is so bad.”

“Um,” Kurt wasn’t really sure what to do at this point. “Blaine,” he tried, “Blaine, I have gum. Would you like some gum?”

Blaine didn’t respond.

“Sooooo,” Kurt decided to try something else. “There was a priest and a rabbi who were friends. And one day they were talking and the priest said--”

Blaine was rubbing his obviously sweaty palms back and forth on his pants again and Kurt realized that he wasn’t going to be able to nurture Blaine through this, and he wasn’t going to be able to distract him out of it. But the fact remained that they were trapped in an elevator and Blaine was having a panic attack, and Kurt couldn’t just leave him that way.

“Blaine!” Kurt tried again, reaching out a hand to rub Blaine’s shoulder, but Blaine flinched when Kurt touched him. He was whimpering and shaking and very much not ok.

Kurt had run out of ideas, so he went with instinct.

In one fluid motion, Kurt leaned forward, placing his hands on the floor on either side of Blaine’s hips and pressing his mouth onto Blaine’s with enough force to push the other man’s head back against the wall. He felt Blaine gasp under his pressure, but he stayed where he was until he felt Blaine’s chest begin to relax against his own. The tension flowed out of Blaine, his feet sliding out and his knees dropping under Kurt’s hovering body as he gave in to the one thing that could get through to him. His hands instinctively rose to hold either side of Kurt’s face as his lips began to press back.

As Blaine responded, Kurt scooted his knees forward, straddling Blaine’s lap before settling into it, all the while never losing contact with his lips. With his balance more secure, Kurt brought his own hands to Blaine’s face, his thumb tenderly stroking along his cheekbone.

They remained there, hardly moving, for moments, or minutes, or hours...neither could have guessed if they’d tried. Eventually, when he was satisfied that Blaine was ok again, Kurt pulled back.

“Um, sorry, but you were going crazy, and I just--”

Blaine grabbed Kurt’s face and pulled him back in, kissing him soundly before whispering. “God I’ve missed that.”

“Blaine?” Kurt hesitated, “what are you thinking?” He had a pretty good idea what Blaine was thinking, based on where he was sitting and what he was starting to feel…

“I just want you Kurt. You totally saved me just now, but honestly you save me all the time. You’ve hurt me and I have been mad at you for months and holding on to all that anger, but it still doesn’t change the fact I just want you.” Blaine lunged for his lips again, open-mouthed and hungry-eyed.

Kurt leaned back to avoid him. “Wait, Blaine, we’re not--”

“I don’t care!” Blaine declared, pushing Kurt out of his lap and flat onto his back on the floor. Blaine followed, settling himself on top of Kurt and mouthing at his neck, his cheek, his ear, anything he could reach.

“Blaine, wait, we…” Kurt’s voice trailed off as he gave in to it and returned the fervent kisses. He squirmed under Blaine’s weight, thrilling with the intimacy of the situation. Lips met, tongues tangled and slid against teeth; it was hot, and wet, and messy, and so very, very satisfying. They writhed in each other's arms, as if making up for months of lost time, until--

“Ahem, gentlemen?” a low voice interrupted them. They pulled apart, blinking and trying to remember where they were and what was-- oh, that was a custodian opening the elevator to rescue them. Hello.

They were between floors, so the custodian was several feet above them and they couldn’t see him well but they could see that there was a group of people behind him, and they heard a concert of giggles and gasps from the assemblage.

“That’s Mr. Hummel and Mr. Anderson!”

“Did you see what they were doing?”

“I thought they were rivals”

“I know, right?”

Another cascade of giggles erupted.

“I was administering first aid for Mr. Anderson, as he was suffering from a panic attack,” Kurt called out to the faceless voices in a serious tone.

“And Mr. Hummel did a great job, but it exhausted him so I had to give him mouth-to-mouth,” Blaine added with an enormous grin that fooled exactly no one.

“Uh-huh, whatever,” the custodian said. “You wanna give me your hand and I’ll help you get out of there?”

Blaine glanced at Kurt who smiled slightly before nodding just once. Blaine turned back to the custodian and held up his hands. He knew that things were not going to be the same now, and for one tiny moment he gave thanks for his claustrophobia.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want the whole joke that Kurt tried to tell Blaine, here it is (it’s one of my favorites):  
> There was a priest and a rabbi who were friends. And one day they were talking and the priest said “so I know you’re not supposed to eat pork, but I’m wondering, have you ever tried it?”  
> The rabbi blushes a little and smiles, and says “yeah, once or twice.” Then he looks back at the priest and says “well, ok, so I know you’re supposed to be celibate, but tell me, have you ever tried it?”  
> The priest blushes too and says “yeah, once or twice…”  
> The rabbi grins and says “it’s better than pork huh?!”


End file.
